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His kidnappers were members of Hezbollah, a Shiite Lebanese militant organization that came into existence during the civil war in Lebanon. The group abducted more than 90 foreigners, including 17 Americans, during the war.

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, as Tehran sought closer economic ties to the United States, the number of abductions decreased and conditions for the remaining hostages improved. Most of the remaining hostages, including Anderson and Terry Waite, an envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury who had been kidnapped while negotiating the release of the hostages, were released in 1991. The last two hostages, both Germans, were released in June 1992.

On his release, Anderson told reporters, “You just do what you have to do. You wake up every day, summon up the energy from somewhere and you get through the day, day after day after day.”

He was reunited with his fiancée, Madeleine Bassil, and their 6-year-old daughter, Sulome, whom he had never seen.

The war claimed the lives of between 130,000 and 200,000 people, and crippled the Lebanese economy. Beirut, once the “Paris of the Middle East” and a vibrant tourist destination, was left in ruins.

The 15-year conflict was, according to the BBC, both a civil and a regional war. It left Lebanon “firmly under Syria's thumb, and with a southern strip of territory occupied by Israel as a buffer zone.” Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. Syria left in 2005 in the wake of the protests that followed the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Lebanon is on the eastern end of the Mediterranean and borders Israel and Syria. As detailed in the CIA Factbook, its population of just under 4 million is 59.7 percent Muslim and 39 percent Christian.

Hezbollah came into being in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It is a Shiite militia that has grown to become a major political force in Lebanon, with a significant presence in the Beirut parliament. The Council on Foreign Relations presents a comprehensive overview of the group, which currently consists of “several thousand militants and activists,” according to U.S. government estimates.